Yesterday, 09.06.12 I cached with my daughter Rosie. She gets up early, like 5am. So as a courtesy to the rest of the family I take her out early. We usually get donuts and this day was no different. So off we went and got our grub on. Afterwards we went and played at a park. This park happened to have a cache in it so we grabbed it. Day 20 covered. As we played I noticed it was 9am already and no one from home was looking for us yet, so what to do? Flashmob WWFM sounded good. In Tucson it was a bubble party and I had the perfect partner for that. So we grabbed some bubbles and flash mobbed a park with about 25 other geocachers. It was fun.

For today, 10.06.12 I decided to take Johnny. There was a string of ten caches south of town that make an 11 out in the desert. Find them all and there is a bonus puzzle cache if you write down the letter number combinations on the log sheet. The walk was short. Johnny n I were out of the house at 5:15 & found  the first cache by 6:15. A little over an hour later we had 9 more caches and the numbers we needed for the bonus puzzle. We found that quickly and then headed back into town to get our grub on. Made it home by 9am.

In the last 3 weeks we have found a cache-a-day and 20 extra caches to help us get the number where we want on 21.12.12.

We will keep you updated on our progress in a few weeks.

Hkrs out.

What in the world is a Munzee. Well it is some “new” Hitec treasure hunt played with your cell phone. There seems to be a problem though, there is no treasure.

The object of the game is to seek out stickers with a QR code that you scan into the Munzee app. The ones I have found look similar to the picture below.

You gain points for every Munzee found. Great idea but I have yet to see treasure at a Munzee site. Just a sticker. Folks don’t even write “TFTM” in the logs, their
generally blank.

Are we gonna seek these stickers out? Not actively we aren’t. If I am bored and early for an appointment I would rather seek a microtrash than a sticker.

Does the game have a future? Possibly, but the Hkrs won’t be playing it. We’ll stick to geocaching, thank you very much.

Whenever we have slowed down our caching it is because we had no goals. Goals help to keep one motivated and moving forward.

When we had cached out the Northland we set the goal of finishing the AZ DeLorme Challenge. We traveled the state collecting pages for almost a year. It was fun and kept us motivated. It was a goal and we completed it.

Last summer I talked 12 Flagstaff cachers to place 10 caches each. The only stipulation was that they needed to be placed within the city limits. The caches were placed and we all were able to streak for 100 days in a row. All had fun and it culminated in a hike to a puzzle cache whose requirement was to have streaked for 100 days. We set a goal and achieved it. Making caching fun again.

We have set a new personal goal. A caching goal to motivate us to Geocache in new territory. We have moved to Tucson. A metropolitan area with plenty of new caches. Our goal? To streak again but this time to have a number associated with a date. We want to have 2112 caches on 21.12.2012. Why? To keep us caching, even in this new land dominated by micro caches (our least favorite type of cache).

Today, 24.05.2012, we stand stand at 1776 caches. So let’s do some math.

2112
-1776
———-
   336 New caches needed to reach our goal.

Days left till 21.12.2012? 211

336
-211
———
125

So all we need to do is find a cache every day for the next 211 days, and pick up an extra 125 caches along the way to reach our goal.

Can we do it? I think we can, and here’s why. Within just 10 km of the new homestead there are 317 traditional caches to be found. Within 15 km there are 554 traditional caches (720 caches if you count all types).

The Hkrs have not been in such a cache dense area like this in over 7 years. We had cached out the Northland to a radius of 30 miles within our first 2 years of caching.

We have the caches to find. We will make the time.  More importantly we have a goal.

Have you ever set geogoals? We have and it has kept us caching for almost 8 years straight.

Let us know some of your goals that have kept you geocaching. The more ideas we have to keep us going past 21.12.2012 the better.

Hkrs out!

If you are going to do some geocaching when your traveling you have to go prepared. By prepared we mean to actually know what type of caches are in the area you are traveling to and visiting. You have to do some Geocaching research to make your trip enjoyable. Here is what we do.

CACHES ALONG THE WAY

If you are driving you can plan caches along a route. A Premium Member has the ability to see what caches you will pass along the way to your destination. I know it looks complicated but after playing around with it for a bit you will figure out just what you need to do to grab some caches along your route. When you finish you are sent a gpx file via email from your account. Drop that in the GPSr and your ready to roll.

CACHES AT YOUR DESTINATION

Setting up a list of caches you want to look for at your destination is a good idea as well. I know there are a lot of geocachers out there using the Geocaching IPhone Application and grabbing caches on the fly. Even if there was an app like that for Android I don’t believe we would use it while traveling, and here’s why. I don’t like to spend my day just grabbing micros all day long with my nose stuck in my phone. It just isn’t enjoyable for the family or myself. I like to weed through the caches online first and find just the right ones. This way we aren’t caching all day but enjoying family time as well. I then make a gpx file of the caches I want, and load it in the GPSr or create a bookmark list which I can then view in the hotel room or during nap time. That way I am spending time with my family and not obsessed about my geocaching.

We prefer to hit Virtual, Earthcaches, and an occasional Puzzle cache when we arrive at our destination. Puzzles are cool as you can start to get excited before your trip and they usually take you to unique places in the towns you visit. Virtuals have the ability to teach a little history of the area you visit and we love history. We love Earthcaches so we try to grab them where ever we travel as they tend to have a little bit of walking and some beautiful country involved.

If the area has a geocaching club or forum ask before you go what would be some of their favorite caches to grab. Most places are more than willing to help and are quick to give their favorites. It will give you a much more local feel to the caching area. Each place tends to have their own style of hides so you can learn something new as you go.

It is also nice to check out Waymarks in the area as well. This can sometimes lead you to some interesting places to visit. Yes they aren’t geocaches but they are fun at times to visit and they generally have some historical significance.

ENTERTAINMENT

When you travel with children entertainment is a good idea, it keeps the kids sane and the parents as well. We see families with LCD’s strapped to the back of a front seat and the kids watching DVD’s on their journey. This is fine but we like to talk and listen to modern radio shows. Johnny’s favorite is one on the Decoder Ring Theatre and is the Red Panda. I like to listen to their Black Jack Justice Series.  If you do a search for old time radio shows in google you will come up with a large list from which to choose. All you need to do is load it on your phone, IPod, or burn a CD and you have the entertainment covered.

FOOD

Food is always something to have on the trip. We like to try and bring healthy snacks along like fruits and popcorn. It is good to bring stuff to eat that isn’t going to leave a big mess in the car, as we all know kids are pretty messy. We usually don’t grab drinks as we like to stop every so often to stretch the legs for a potty break and something other than a Geocache.

LODGING

Lodging is a personal preference for sure. Over the years we have been swayed by Best Westerns. I think we like them the most as they generally have a breakfast included. Before Best Westerns we felt hurried to leave the hotel to eat. Staying at this hotels allows us to lazily get up in the morning and go grab some food and then go back to the room and prep for the day. It generally adds $10 to the stay per night, as opposed to other hotel chains, but we would spend much more than that visiting a Denny’s or IHop.

Schedule

Plan much more time than you figure for traveling. If you are jumping out and grabbing caches your trip will be much longer than it says when you Google directions. We have found that not having a schedule is the best. Get there when you do and just enjoy the time together. Caching is secondary to the family time. It is nice to keep things in perspective.

Well those are our tips for a successful roadtrip. Just have fun out there and enjoy yourselves and your families.

Until next time,

Mark & Johnny
The Flag_Mtn_Hkrs